Our trip to Cutfoot/Winnie was a sweet/sour trip in the first place. My Dad’s been fishing up there since the early 60’s with about 30 guys. He’s the last remaining member of the fishing party. On his birthday this year, he was given the gift of life after his second heart attack. This last one was a pretty good one, but with some help from a few good doctors and a pacemaker, he’s doing pretty darn good.
He told mom not to even try and talk him out of going up this years. So the normal father/son fishing trip became a family trip for backup support.
I’ve aways told him that we would continue fishing as long as I could get him in the boat…well, he tested me on this, this year. Using a wheel chair to get him to the boat, the three of us guided him in. True to the stubborn german in him, he did amazingly well…although the cold and wind took it’s toll. Although the fish weren’t jumping in the boat for us, I would say it was one of our best fishing trips to Big Cutfoot.
On to the fishing!
After unloading and launching the boat, we set off for some hot spots that I was told should be good. We marked fish, we changed from shinners to fatheads to plastic to leeches….from jigging, to trolling spinners to lindy rigging… not one bit came out of three normally good spots. Did I mention trolling raps?
Dad was getting tired and we headed back to Cutfoot Souix Inn, our camp grounds for the duration. He figured we should try one more spot in Little Cutfoot before we go in. We didn’t go very far and dad had on a 16″ eye using a gold spinner and a 
yellow Mr Twister. (I know, but he likes using them) After that fish, it was time to go in.
Then the weather went south! Wednesday it was rain all day and that means casino day. We took the long way to the casino by Cass Lake by going through the Third River Landing and Eagles Nest Campgrounds. Kind of a trip down memory lane, since dad and his group originally cleared many of the camping areas in Third River which the DNR now maintains. The winner of the day was Mrs. Briank…I just call her Lucky for short. She cleared $50. off of $10…which covered my $10 loss for the day. (Hey! We go all out at the casino!)
Thursday we went out for a short while in the morning. I landed a broad headed northern that came in at just over 8 lbs on the digital scale…naturally I forgot the camera at the cabin 
Gave her a kiss and off she went…she would have made enough of Fishing Machines pickled northern to last us years!
From everyone I spoke with…the fish just turned off on Tuesday in the Cutfoot area. There was a tourny on Thursday and in talking to some of the contestants, they all said the samething, when the weather turned….the fish turned off.
However, there were still some good reports coming in from the big lake up through Thursday. Much slower, but there were fish being caught along the normal North Shore areas such as Mallard Point, Stoney, Pigion River and the Rock Pile. Shiners and the old jig were what was working the best.
Catching could have been better…could have been a little warmer…but as someone posted in another forum…sometimes fishing is not about “fishing” but rather the company your with. 
[ couldn’t resist] 
Anyway you are right, [did I say that?] fishing is about having a good time on the water with friends or even alone, not necessarily about catching alot of fish. 
